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Owners of certain snakes and dangerous wild animals in Ohio must have a permit to keep their
creatures beginning today, but the state has issued none.

Just seven applications returned to the state had been completed as of yesterday, while 30
others are in progress, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

The permits are among the last pieces of the state’s crackdown on exotic animals to take effect.
The state acted in response to the 2011 release of dozens of wild animals by a suicidal owner at
his farm near Zanesville. Authorities killed most of Terry W. Thompson’s animals, fearing for the
public’s safety.

Although the law allows state officials to seize animals that are kept without a permit, that’s
unlikely to begin immediately in the new year. The Agriculture Department expects to receive
applications into the new year, said agency spokeswoman Erica Hawkins.

“It’s not like we can show up and take the animals,” Hawkins said. “There’s a due process that
is followed.”

Once applications are submitted, the agency has 90 days to decide whether potential permit
holders have met the state’s new caging standards and other rules for keeping certain snakes and
animals. And Hawkins said the department is eager to work with owners who want to comply with the
law.

Several animal owners have asked a federal appeals court to strike down the law.